Thursday, June 11, 2009

ERT

The greatest moments of an Enthusiasts life are spent during limited-access exclusive coaster riding sessions known as "ERT" = Exclusive Ride Time. These are slots of time during coaster conventions and other special events (like Holiwood Nights) in which certain coaster are open only to Enthusiasts attending. Parks usually open their gates early or stay open a few hours late to allow Enthusiasts to get their fix by marathoning rides over and over again.

Enthusiasts attack ERT sessions like a pack of dogs on a three legged cat. Some take the time to set records for number of rides on a certain coaster. Others use the time to try try out all different seats on the train to analyze different air time moments. Others bring a stop watch to time and rate a park's crew on dispatch times.

Sometimes ERT backfires. If a park limits its ERT to only 1 or 2 coasters, the ERT-seeking enthusiasts fill up the queue, giving the rides hour+ waits. This entirely defeats the purpose of ERT, but they still love it! "Man, only an hour-and-a-half wait for Maggie...this ERT is a heck of a deal...much better than waiting only 25 minutes during operating hours!" At other times, a park will offer ERT before the gates open, but this requires Enthusiasts to wake up at 5:30 PM in order to guarantee a place in line. (For true Enthusiasts, this is no problem) However, just by labeling an event "ERT" Enthusiasts will flock to it. In fact, Cedar Point could offer ERT on Wildcat and Disaster Transport, and Enthusiasts would abandon all other coasters in the park just to take advantage of this ERT. "No, yall go ahead and hit up Maverick and Blue Streak, I can't miss this ERT opportunity! Just how many times can I handle DT in 2 hours!?!?!"

3 comments:

  1. Personally I think ERT sucks for the most part. Some parks have figured it out to give enough hours and have enough coasters and trains to make it successful but I find most trips on weekdays to most parks are better.

    Carefull planning, Early June PA tours are recomeneded, Hit the big parks on the weekdays and ERT? FUGGHETTABOUTIT You'll ride till you drop!

    Its about friends. If your friends hit coaster events then the ert is more than coaster riding. We used to make events out of KIs flyers because even though you rode very little. EVERYBODY WAS THERE! BEAST AT NIGHT OR FLYERS??????? FLYERS EVERYTIME!

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  2. Great idea for a blog. I've subscribed to your feed so I won't miss a post. I'm looking forward to more.

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  3. Sweet blog! As a soon to be full time coaster enthusiast I was glad to find something like this. I look forward to more posts this summer.

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